Communities of Practice (COPs) are popping up all over the place in my clients’ organizations. Are they really? Or were they always there and we just didn’t have a great buzz word to place on the practice of sharing and illuminating information?
Wenger and Snyder define COPs in their book, Cultivating Communities Of Practice, as groups of people who “share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis”.
This sounds like what happens around the water cooler and coffee machines, doesn’t it? People in COPs typically share information, insight, and advice. They help each other solve problems and discuss their own situations and aspirations.
I realize that I have been involved with many COPs, both in a very informal way and in a structured way. I have seen, for example, where some organizations have used COPs to become more intentional and systematic in managing the information and knowledge of those who are leaving the organization and therefore use COPs as a way to “codify” knowledge.
But have you considered using COPs as a fluid way to encourage an organization to become skilled as a learning organization? There are, of course, challenges to creating the mindset required to utilize COPs effectively. First, managers must be willing to see the inherent “chatting” that informal COPs utilize as valuable. Secondly, a COP must determine the depth of formality and structure that it wishes to engage in. Thirdly, trust must be developed between participants to allow them to be vulnerable – in sharing both their ideas (without fear of theft) and their problems (without fear of censure or ridicule).
As a leader, are you taking advantage of the informal COPs in your team? Or do you see these informal teams as a waste of time – and everyone should just get back to work?
What about your own growth? Do you look for opportunities to learn from others?
For more on Wenger and Snyder, see Cultivating Communities of Practice; Harvard Business School Press, Chapter One, pages 1-21.
